Workshop: Metaphors in Science and Scholarship

Heidelberg University’s Marsilius Kolleg has organised a workshop on the use and function of metaphors in science and scholarship. It is due to take place from 30 May to 1 June 2011 at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum (IWH). The central issue is the way in which imagery has a formative influence on thought structures. Representatives from all walks of academic life will be assembling to analyse language use in 13 disciplines ranging from the neurosciences to theology. Also up for discussion are points of contact between these various disciplines and the subject of interdisciplinary collaboration.

“We intend to employ the analysis of language as it is actually used to get a toehold on the way language patterns influence thought structures in the various disciplines,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Meier of the Institute of Prehistory, Protohistory and Near-Eastern Archaeology. “Metaphors appear to be particularly revealing. They tend to be subconsciously selected and rarely reflected upon, and they are frequently carriers of central presuppositions and convictions in the disciplines involved.” Prof. Meier points out that even at first glance numerous metaphors are patently imported from other subjects or adopted from completely different sectors of life: “Many images have also been exchanged from one discipline to another.” Thomas Meier was a fellow at the Marsilius Kolleg until March 2011 and is one of the organisers of the workshop. Its full title is “Standards of Rationality and the Use of Images. The Function of Metaphors in Science and Scholarship”.

Note for newsdesks:
The workshop “Standards of Rationality and the Use of Images. The Function of Metaphors in Science and Scholarship” is not open to the public but reserved for invited participants. You are cordially invited to attend and report on the proceedings.

Contact:
Tobias Just
Marsilius Kolleg
phone: +49 6221 543980
just@mk.uni-heidelberg.de

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